“They are not PCR nor do they give the results in writing”

The Ministry of Defence has launched a massive campaign to carry out coronavirus tests among the personnel of the Armed Forces. Members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) –that have been part of the spearhead against pandemic in this crisis– nevertheless denounce the lack of reliability in these tests. They regret that they are rapid tests and not PCR, with greater reliability and information, and they denounce that the results are communicated to them out loud, without leaving a written record.

The representative association Troop Military Union (UMT) It has registered a battery of questions with the Ministry of Defense in which it requests information about the tests being carried out on the group. They affirm in their letter that they have received several complaints from members of the UME, specifically from the units based in Torrejón de Ardoz, “which has participated in or currently continues to carry out extraordinary activities for the containment of the coronavirus.”

The Asociation regrets that the personnel do not undergo the PCR tests, with greater reliability and information on the patient’s health condition. “According to the information that this association has, they are

the so-called rapid tests, not the PCR “, they detail from UMT. According to various information, these tests show a reliability far from one hundred percent and their recommended use is as a complement to other medical examinations.

Results not communicated in writing

Regardless of the type of test they are subjected to, from the association they denounce that the result is communicated to the military “verbally”: “A priori, since the interested party was not officially notified in writing, he has no official and reliable evidence that the results of the tests carried out.” From UMT they consider that this way of proceeding generates a “logical distrust among all the personnel who have been tested.”

The association considers that the lack of written communication “could be understood as a shield of the Ministry of Defense“before responsibilities” in the event that these personnel suffer any illness or injury derived from having been infected with the coronavirus. “That is why they ask that the members of the UME be able to” identify and officially know “the health problems, both due to their individual protection as that of the group.

It should be remembered that the EMU was the rapid reaction team in the fight against the coronavirus that the Ministry of Defense deployed shortly after the state of alarm was decreed. During this crisis, along with the rest of the military corps, it has carried out various missions of disinfection, health support and surveillance, mainly.